Echoes of Tomorrow
by poohba
Summary: CONCLUSION UP! 10-year-old Luke meets the mysterious Old Ben Kenobi
1. Luke

The Tatooine suns blazed down the young boy‗s back as he checked the moisture farm‗s machinery. Drops of sweat made their way from his damp blonde hair, down the back of his ears to his neck.

"Hey Luke!"

The blonde boy looked up from his work and squinted to see his friend Biggs standing above him. "Luke, I‗m going into town. Alger Tobian is back from his trip to Cloud City on Bespin and says he has loads of stuff to tell."

Luke hated tending the machinery. He‗d much rather be off with Biggs. Alger was only a few years older than they were and had been gone for a long time.

To Luke and Biggs, even hearing the older boys talk about chasing down womp rats or their upcoming education at the Imperial Academy was exciting enough to make the trip in to the sleepy nearby town. The stories never seemed to change much, even though the storytellers did – but here was a whole new set of stories to hear.

_Anything_ would be better than staying at home all the time, tending to the farm. But Uncle Owen would have his hide if he didn‗t stay to finish his chores.

He kicked the machine, "I can‗t Biggs. I have to check all the collectors before supper."

Biggs rolled his eyes. His parents never seemed to care what he did. But they could afford to hire farm workers. Luke‗s aunt and uncle couldn‗t. "How long are you going to let your mean old uncle tell you what to do, anyway?" he said disgustedly as he turned around and left.

Luke kicked the machine again. It stopped working with that abuse. Luke felt like screaming in frustration. He‗d just made his afternoon even longer.

He sat down with a sigh and began taking apart the machine to fix it. Someday… he was going to get off this hot ball of dust and never come back. He was going to have adventures that would make Alger Tobian green with envy. Maybe he‗d be a freighter captain, like Uncle Owen had told him his father was. Maybe he‗d run a smuggling operation for the Hutts and find himself being chased by Imperial ships… Maybe he‗d join the Rebellion and fight those same Imperial ships…

"Luke?" 

This time the voice calling him was deep and gruff.

"Yes, Uncle Owen?" Luke said, scrambling to fit the pieces back together.

The large frame of Owen Lars came up behind the boy and did not look pleased to see his farm machinery scattered around. "What happened here?"

"I‗m sorry, Uncle Owen, I know I have five more collectors to check, but this one stopped running and…"

"Well, it doesn‗t matter," Uncle Owen grunted. "The Main is down again. The hydrogen filter is past fixing. We‗ll need to shut down and go into Mos Eisley to get a new one."

"You mean, I get to go?" Luke voice jumped.

Uncle Owen nodded. "You‗re ten years old. It‗s about time you learned something about bartering."

"You‗re really going to take me into Mos Eisley?" 

"I said I would, didn‗t I?" The corners of Uncle Owen‗s mouth were turned up as far as they ever did go. He was a solemn man. A farmer. Life was hard on Tatooine and smiling was simply a luxury. "Heavens know what your aunt will say about this, but maybe we just won‗t tell her where we‗re going."

Mos Eisley was Tatooine‗s main spaceport. Luke had never been there, but that was where his father had run his freighter. It was the window to the rest of the galaxy and all kinds of peoples could be found there.

As Uncle Owen guided his speeder into the outskirts of the town, Luke drank in the scenery. He couldn‗t even begin to name all the species he was seeing. But then he recognized the all-white armor of the Imperial Stormtrooper at the checkpoint. He was inspecting identification before allowing anyone to enter the spaceport. Luke shrank in his seat. Stormtroopers reminded him of skeletons… and he‗d never seen one this closely before.

Uncle Owen simply patted him on the arm as the Stormtrooper asked for their papers. The soldier briefly glanced at them, threw the papers back into the speeder and waved the pair on.

"There‗s nothing to fear from them if you follow the laws of the Empire and mind your own business," Uncle Owen told Luke. 

Luke wasn‗t sure his uncle really believed his own words. But he knew _he_ never wanted to have a run-in with a Stormtrooper. That would be a little too-much adventure.

Uncle Owen guided the speeder through crowded, noisy streets into a quiet alley where he parked in front a small agriculture-parts shop.

"Hello, Owen," the shopkeeper called from the counter were he was assisting another customer, "Be with you in a moment." 

The customer wasn‗t your typical moisture farmer. Luke could tell that much with one glance. He wore a dark brown hooded robe, although the hood was hanging down the back at the moment. His hair and beard were a golden-brown color that was beginning to gray and he had piercing blue eyes.

It wasn‗t really that he didn‗t look like a farmer, Luke thought on second glance. There was nothing about his appearance that made him stand out of place. It was more the way he carried himself… His intense look… Just the aura about him.

At the sound of Owen‗s name, the customer had turned from the counter and looked the uncle and his nephew standing in the doorway. His intense eyes looked Luke over and made Luke feel as if he was being tested. If so, he must have passed approval because the stranger said, "Owen Lars, it has been a long time. And this must be Luke…"

Luke felt his uncle stiffen. He wondered why. The stranger didn‗t seem belligerent in any way. In fact his voice was kind… and elegant for a planet as forsaken as this one. He wondered how the stranger knew his name, but it seemed like his aunt and uncle were always meeting people who knew who he was that he couldn‗t remember. Aunt Beru said she‗d felt that way all the time growing up too.

Finally, Owen said, "Yes, Kenobi, this is my nephew, Luke Skywalker."

The stranger approached Luke then, placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled down at him, "Luke, I‗ve been wanting to meet you for a very long time."

Normally, if a stranger had done something like that to him, Luke would have gagged. There was nothing worse than an adult who fawned all over him. The next thing the man would say would probably be something about how grown-up he was getting. But the man in brown didn‗t, and so Luke began to respect him. This definitely was no ordinary friend of Uncle Owen‗s.

The stranger had turned his attention to Uncle Owen now, "I trust he‗s been doing well."

Owen grunted. "He‗s all boy. Good with fixing the machinery, but always wanting to run off and listen to adventure stories instead of doing chores."

The stranger smiled at that. "That sounds familiar. I can think of a couple of other boys I‗ve known, including myself, who were much like that at his age."

Luke felt his uncle stiffen up even more at that, and he couldn‗t understand why. There was an uncomfortable silence, but finally Owen spoke, "Those boys you speak of lived a more exotic life, I think. Luke needs to settle in to farm life. He doesn‗t need his head filled up with nonsense like that."

The man bowed slightly at Owen, and then turned back to Luke. He smiled again at the boy. "I‗m glad to see you‗re growing to be such a fine young man, but you must remember to honor your aunt and uncle in these things. There will be time enough for adventures when you‗re grown."

With that, he left the shop. Luke stuck his head out of the door after him, but the strange man in brown had disappeared already into the nearby noisy street.

Uncle Owen hastily found the part he was looking for and paid the asked price for it. He seemed to have forgotten his promise to teach Luke the art of bartering. His only concern now seemed to be returning home as quickly as possible.

When they were in the speeder, racing home across the desert, Luke couldn‗t help but ask, "Uncle Owen, who was that man in the shop?"

"Who?" his uncle replied, distracted.

"The man in the shop that talked to us," Luke insisted.

"Oh, that was just Crazy Old Ben Kenobi," Uncle Owen said. "He‗s a hermit who lives out by sandpeople territory."

"He lives alone out there?" Luke asked. "How does he survive?"

Uncle Owen shook his head, "All I know is people stay away from him."

"That‗s all you know? Then how come he seemed to know you… and me?" 

"Luke, I don‗t know." Uncle Owen sounded tired. "He‗s probably harmless, but Old Ben is a strange one. He does a lot of odd things. If I‗d have known he was going to be in Mos Eisley today, we wouldn‗t have come."

Luke knew the conversation was over and he and his uncle stayed quiet the rest of the way home. It gave him time to think. "Old" Ben Kenobi hadn‗t seemed that strange to him.

He seemed out-of-place, maybe, but not crazy. In fact, he may have been the first adult Luke had ever met who seemed to understand him.

If anything, it had been Uncle Owen‗s behavior that had seemed odd. And Luke didn‗t really believe him when he said he didn‗t know Old Ben. But he seemed almost scared of the quiet, unassuming stranger with the piercing blue eyes. Why? 

Luke intended to find out.


	2. Ben

Old Ben Kenobi made his way up the craggy path in the rocks to the cave-like dwelling that was his home and had been for almost ten years. It was a lonely life he‗d made for himself, out in the middle of nowhere, but the loneliness was necessary. Imagine how quickly the Emperor and Vader would have found him if he‗d stayed in Mos Eisley!

No, he lived out in the sand and the boulders, where few even wanted to travel, let alone live. 

The sandpeople had been a threat at first. Most people of Tatooine feared them and he lived in the heart of their territory, but a few well-guided lightsaber thrusts at them won their respect, and he‗d lived in peace with them ever since. 

Out here he could practice the Jedi skills he‗d learned as a boy and that had served him well as a young man. Out here there were no Imperial spies.

He just wished he could be closer to people sometimes… especially the boy. He had promised Padme. (In his lonely mind, he had long since dropped the formalities, like calling her Lady Amidala) He had promised her to keep her son safe, which is why he had left the boy in the capable care of Anakin‗s childless stepbrother and his wife.

But yesterday‗s encounter with Owen Lars in Mos Eisley had made him wonder if he‗d done the right thing. It had been almost ten years since he‗d seen Owen Lars… since the night he‗d knocked on the man‗s front door with a baby in his arms. _"This is Anakin‗s child. Darth Vader does not know he exists. Please, we need your help."_

Of course, Owen had known what had happened to his stepbrother Anakin. Who hadn‗t in the Empire? Even this far out. His reluctance to take the child had been considerable. He‗d always been mildly suspicious of the Jedi, and after all that had happened, he trusted the Jedi that had been responsible for Anakin‗s training even less.

_"What if you‗re wrong?"_ He‗d asked. _"Bringing this child here could mean the death of all of us at Vader‗s hands."_

But Beru, his wife, had taken one look at Luke and fallen in love with him. "We‗re the only family he has," she had declared to his husband. _"Danger or no danger. It‗s our duty to take care of him."_

Owen had grunted. "_All right. But you stay away, Kenobi. Trying to make him into a Jedi isn‗t going to help him any. He needs to have as normal a childhood as he can. It‗s best he never knows who his father is."_

Ben sighed. That had been a long time ago. He had hoped Owen‗s attitude towards him might have changed by now. Certainly if Darth Vader had known about his son, by now he would have found his way back to Tatooine to capture him, train him.

And now Luke was beginning to be old enough to understand… In the old days his training would have begun long ago. But Ben acknowledged that these were not the old days and that his small home, carved out of the rock, was not the Jedi Temple.

But if he did not begin to build a relationship with the boy now… Wouldn‗t he fail utterly if time ever came to train him? The past would repeat itself. Luke could develop into a man very much like his father unless Ben did something.

His eyebrows knit together. There must be a way, he thought.

Just then, a timid knock on the door disrupted his thoughts. What? A visitor? Ben wished for his old lightsaber, but it no longer hung on his belt. It was tucked away in a trunk at the end of his sleeping pallet.

Well, if the Empire had found him. He‗d find a way out of it - somehow. He was not as quick on his feet as he used to be, but certainly his feet were still quicker than the minds of most Stormtroopers.

"Come in," He said.

A small blonde boy in a white tunic pushed open the door. "I ran away," he announced. "Uncle Owen is mad at me for not fixing the collector I broke yesterday, so I just ran away."

Ben was suddenly glad he had not decided to raise this precocious child by himself. Perhaps that had been his mistake with the father. Had he really come all this way, through sandpeople territory, no less, on foot? 

The boy was quivering with excitement. Oh yes, Ben thought to himself, the Force is strong with this one. If he was careful, Luke might learn to trust him.

"Luke," he gently chided. "Didn‗t I tell you yesterday to always respect your uncle?"

The boy‗s face squashed. Clearly he had misjudged the stranger he‗d met in Mos Eisley yesterday. This adult wasn‗t any different than any of the rest. "Yes, but it‗s just not fair. I didn‗t break the collector on purpose!"

"Well, sit down and tell me all about it," Ben said, turning to his cooking area to see what kind of soothing drink he could mix for the child. "I won‗t throw you out to the sandpeople just yet." 

Luke smiled. "I knew you were different. I knew you‗d understand."

"I didn‗t know that I‗d said anything of the sort. I just want to hear the story. And after that, I‗ll tell you a story about a silly Gungan, named Jar-Jar Binks, and what happened to him when he ran away from home."

Luke stared up at him in amazement. "I don‗t know that one. What other stories do you know?"

"Oh," Ben smiled, thinking about what adventures he‗d had in his youth that he could fictionalize for Luke. "I know lots of stories. Thinking about them helps pass the time out here. But I think after I tell you about Jar-Jar it would be best if you went home and apologized to your Uncle Owen."

Luke‗s face scrunched up again, but he was already beginning to trust "Old Ben." 

"Okay," he said. "but I‗m coming back here sometime to hear the rest of those stories."


	3. Beru and Owen

"Luke? Luuuke?" 

Beru Lars put her hands on her hips and called again. "Luke Skywalker? Where are you?"

There was no answer. Beru laid down the spoon she'd been stirring her pot with. Luke was never far enough away, this time of day, to not hear her call. He knew it was almost suppertime.

So did Lars. He came and stood in the doorway, a towel wiping down his still dripping hands, his craggy face wide with concern. "Luke's not here?"

"No. I've been calling him…"

The couple's eyes met. Beru could see fear in her husband's eyes and it intensified her own. "He must be on the farm somewhere…" she said tonelessly. She wasn't sure if she really believed what she said or not.

"No. No. I just came in from the collectors. I assumed he was in his room sulking."

The two of them made a frantic search of the small house. Luke was not inside or on any of the grounds.

"I knew you were being too hard on him about that collector." Beru said sobbing. "What if he's run away? If something's happened to him, over something so silly…"

Owen Lars was not a man without heart. He walked over to his wife and embraced her. Neither one spoke, but both were thinking about the considerable dangers of life on Tatooine. For a young boy to be lost, wandering through the Tundra.

And also to be considered: Luke wasn't just any boy. For him to be alone and on unfamiliar ground was even more dangerous. If he was to wander into Mos Eisley and call attention to himself in some way… The Imperial troops stationed there very well could…

Beru saw in her mind the small babe that had been brought to her doorstep ten years ago. She had not borne him, but she had loved him and raised him. He was, in every way that mattered, her son.

Her mind's eye showed her that beautiful blond boy, in the grip of Lord Vader. He was crying in a way that he hadn't for years, terrified. Then, Vader spoke to him… and, then, NO! Luke smiled. "Yes, father," he said.

She shivered with fear at the apparition. 

"Beru?" Owen looked down at her with concern. 

"Owen. Shouldn't we let Master Kenobi know?"

Owen took a step back. The gruff exterior he normally showed to the world was back in place.

"Please Owen. He might be able to help… and even if not… doesn't he deserve to know what's wrong?"

The farmer said nothing.

"Owen, please!"

"That old Jedi didn't help his father, now did he? And look at how much Luke is like Anakin. In another five or ten years he may be flying off into rages and killing Tuscan Raiders."

"Owen, be reasonable!"

But Owen only shook his head. "No, if Luke's run off, it's probably Kenobi's fault too."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

Owen sat in one of the kitchen chairs with a grunt. "We ran into Kenobi yesterday, when we went into town to buy parts for the collector."

"You went to Mos Eisley? Owen, what if one of the Imperial…"

"They checked our papers. There was no trouble. There is nothing suspicious about an old farmer and his nephew going to town for spare parts. I knew you would worry, which is why I didn't tell you we went."

"And Old Ben Kenobi was there?" Beru sat down.

Owen nodded. "He introduced himself to Luke… before I could do anything about it."

Beru's eyes lit up. "What did Luke do?"

Owen grunted again. "Nothing much. But he asked about him later, back in the speeder. I told him he was just a crazy old hermit from the middle of nowhere… That's true enough… and what most people around here think, anyway."

"Owen, you don't suppose…" Beru jumped up and began flying around the room, looking for her wraps and a light source. Her husband squinted at her.

"Suppose what?"

"Luke's gone to find Old Ben Kenobi."

"He wouldn't… I told him to stay away from the man."

"Yes dear," Beru said, throwing his wrap at him. "But you also told him to fix the collector… and gave him a stern talking to when he didn't… If you were ten years old, wouldn't you?"

"When I was ten years old, I would have listened to my uncle and tended to my chores." Owen grumbled.

Beru tossed her cloak over her head and helped Owen get his over his wide shoulders. "Yes, but what would Anakin have done at ten?"

Owen remembered the rebellious teenager Anakin had been the first time the stepbrothers had met. It was not hard to picture him a few years younger. "I'll get the speeder," he said.

A few minutes later, the middle-aged couple was flying their aging speeder into the heart of sandpeople territory. The suns were beginning to set. It would be dark soon. It seemed a foolhardy mission… but if they were right Luke would be visiting with Kenobi. If they were not, then - Owen had finally agreed – maybe the old Jedi could help.

They took the speeder as far as they could, into a small canyon. The shadows here covered almost everything and jutting rock formations could easily hide a group of sandpeople. The only sounds were the crunching of the pebbles under their feet. 

But Kenobi didn't live far from here. Beru wondered if she should risk calling out, and then realized it didn't matter because she was going to do it anyway. "Luuuke?" She cried.

Owen gripped her arm tightly. If the sandpeople didn't know they were there before, they did now. But still, there was nothing but the growing darkness and silence.

"Luuuke," she cried again. "Where are you?"

Then there was the sound of a door opening and a light appeared underneath one of the rock crevices. The shadows of a man and a boy standing in the light appeared on Owen and Beru's faces

"Aunt Beru?" Luke's young, sweet voice called out.

"Luke. We've been so worried!" Beru ran up to the doorway and kneeled to embrace her nephew. Owen followed closely behind and laid a hand on his wife's shoulder, eying Obi-Wan warily.

The Jedi stood facing the scrutiny unfazed. He had a feeling the Lars were going to be keeping an especially close watch on young Luke from now on. He didn't foresee any more teas with the boy… but, the window of communication had been opened between them. Obi-Wan no longer had any doubts about fulfilling his promise to Padme.

"We must get going," Owen said finally. "We don't want to be out in the open in the speeder when it gets dark."

"That's a good idea." Obi-Wan agreed. "Remember that Luke. The desert is no place to be alone."

Luke looked up at him, amazed that this man and his uncle actually agreed on something. Could it be that both of them cared about his welfare?

"You move around the desert alone," Luke pointed out.

Obi-Wan smiled. The boy was smart. No doubt about that. "Not when I don't have to, I don't. And I am a grown man that knows a thing or two about protecting myself."

"Well, why can't you teach me those things? And then I can visit you again. I'm almost a grown man, you know."

Owen's face positively blanched.

"Perhaps someday," Obi-Wan said. "But right now you need to learn to obey your aunt and uncle."

Luke's face scrunched up into a sulk. "All right," he said.

"Come on, Luke, we'd better go." Owen put his arm around the boy and led him down to the speeder. "By the way," he shouted back up to the silhouette in the doorway, "Thank you."

Obi-Wan bowed slightly and then closed the door. Someday they would meet again.


End file.
